Last year he won the premier edition of the Conference League and brought Roma the long-awaited European trophy, this year he could go one step further. Jose Mourinho set his sights on the Europa League and is doing well. He eliminated Sociedad in the round of 16 and placed among the eight best teams, but he wouldn’t be the Special One if he didn’t take advantage of the opportunity, so that even during his success he didn’t rejoice over the defeat of his fiervest rivals.The Portuguese does not like the fact that teams after being eliminated from the group stage of a European competition continue the season in a lower continental competition – so, expressing his opinion after the match with Sociedad, he stung the city rival Lazio, and indirectly hit at Juventus as well.Roma survived Real’s domination and beating and qualified for the quarter-finalsA reminder – Lazio started their European campaign in the Europa League, but finished the group stage in third place, behind Feyenoord and Midtjylland, so they ended up in the Conference League. But last night, with another defeat against AZ Alkmaar, the Roman Eagles ended their participation in the third-tier competition. Juventus finished in third place in the Champions League, thanks to a better head-to-head score against Maccabi Haifa, and are currently competing in the Europa League. However, Mourinho clearly feels that Bianconeri do not belong there.”There are teams here that in my opinion should not be there. If they are eliminated from one competition, they should go home! So if the Europa League is won by a team that was relegated from the Champions League, it will be meaningless in my opinion. Europe should be for the teams that play it from the start. I mean, Lazio won’t play in the third competition, right? That’s how it should be,” Mourinho asked ironically.”La Lazio non avrà una terza competizione europea adesso, no? È così…purtoppo 🤷♂️. Ciao.”#José #Mourinho pic.twitter.com/OMckGn7C4e— Guglielmo Timpano (@guglielmotim) March 16, 2023 The Portuguese also reflected on the double match with Sociedad.”The boys are doing their job. I make a small contribution, but the team deserves it. We have these difficulties, Matic had a problem and could not play, so Wijnaldum – who did not play for six months – had to play 90 minutes twice in three days. We go back to Rome tired, but also proud of what we achieved. This courage and sacrifice, Belotti who had a surgery on his hand a few days ago, Pellegrini with 30 stitches on his head, that says it all… We are not the best team in the world, but we are a solid group of players.”##NAJAVA_MECA_7108244##Roma did not concede a single goal in 180 minutes of football against Sociedad, the fourth-placed Primera Division team.”When they are two goals behind, home teams risk everything to turn the situation around. With their fans, the fantastic stadium and the crowd, they tried to make history, but my boys gave it their all, even scoring a goal that was disallowed. At first we dominated, but then we relied on the defense and looked for chances from the counterattack. However, we never stopped trying to get a goal. That’s why I gave the team freshness by introducing El Shaarawy and Abraham,” Mourinho concluded.
